Ten design teams have come another step closer to redesigning a portion of the National Mall.

The National Mall Design Contest announced the finalists of stage two on today. Each team, made up of architecture and landscape architecture firms, advance to the next level, during which they will design their concepts for one of three areas on the Mall.

The spots up for renovation are: Union Square, the area just south of the Capitol that includes the Reflecting Pool and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial; the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument and Constitution Gardens, between the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

The design plans will be submitted in March and will be open to the public in April. The competition winners will be announced in May.

Rogers Marvel Architects will work with Peter Walker and Partners to create a concept for Constitution Gardens.

Isabelle Moutaud, Rogers&rsquo; director of strategy and development, said the firm was excited to work on the area, which has a lot of character.

&ldquo;This is a great project for us,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The chance to work on the National Mall is once in a lifetime. We don&rsquo;t have it yet, but we look forward to getting started.&rdquo;

The construction projects will begin the competition, with the total cost projection expected to be about $700 million. No start or end dates for construction have been announced.